Once upon a time, CRM (customer relationship management) tools belonged almost exclusively to the sales realm. The salespeople worked their fields; that is, they updated their leads’ information, sent periodic emails, and called them to gauge interest in making a purchase. It was a tool designed to close sales, and it more or less worked.

It tended to be a little clunky in that the “seeds” weren’t always ready for that email or phone call, and they responded in kind. They unsubscribed or yelled at the salespeople to be taken off the call list. It posed a predicament. Leads were drying up, and no additional seeds seemed to be sprouting.

What to do? The tool itself was good, but it needed to be sharpened so that more quality leads (or seeds) were contacted and sales harvested. How?

I thought you’d never ask.

CRM tools have grown up a lot in the past few years thanks to technological improvements, the cloud, and big data. CRM no longer exists in its own little kingdom. It’s integrated with others, namely, marketing automation.

The integration has been transformative for marketing and sales. The two kingdoms, once seemingly at odds with one another, now speak with each other. Not only that, they work together to increase leads and close sales.

Sowing Better Seeds

Maintaining current contact information is essential to sowing better seeds. By integrating CRM software with marketing automation, contact information can be shared across departments. If marketing updates a contact’s email address, that update is delivered to the salesperson responsible for the contact.

The process takes all of seconds to complete, which improves efficiency and productivity. Neither department has to worry that they might be sending an email or other content to an out-of-date address. They know the information is up-to-date and can continue with their work of sowing and harvesting.

Nurturing Leads

Seeds require nurturing just as leads do. Seeds can’t just be handed off to the harvesters straight from the seed packet. They have to be planted in the ground and allowed to take root and grow.

Nurturing occurs with marketing automation software. Leads are placed in certain campaigns depending on their interest level, their roles within their companies, et cetera. Some of that information comes from the CRM tool – the company role, for instance – and some of it comes from their behaviors and actions.

Both their identity and their actions dictate their “score.” If they reach a certain number, they’re delivered to sales for harvesting. The process not only makes closing a sale more efficient but also keeps everyone mindful of who their leads are: people with unique reasons for being interested in a product or service.

Growing the Harvest

Harvesting one or two extra sales is great, but marketing automation and customer relationship management can deliver much more. By integrating the two, closed sales can be automatically returned to marketing for ongoing nurturing in a loyalty program.

Marketing automation also can turn current leads and closed sales into brand evangelists. Because they receive the information they want when and where they want it, they’re more likely to share their experience with their friends, co-workers, and family. In essence, they become not only seeds or harvested leads but also sowers.

Marketing automation and CRM are a win, win for everyone. So let’s get out there and start sowing some seeds and harvesting leads.

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